I lunged forward wand still aloft but I was faster than I'd ever been, her wand flew across the room.
I reached her and she grabbed my wrist, her grip strong and surprising, my wand fell on the carpet with a light thud. In a flash of light Remus was hoisted up his ankle on the other side of the room. I wrapped my arm around her waist. She grappled and cursed, no words coming out complete. Just a series of muddled consonants as the difficulty she had with her speech reached fever pitch.
"S-s-s-s. Mmm," her mouth shook but she tried again. "N-n-n-h-h-h." She was mute as me. Her silencing spell was so strong that not even my clothing rustled as I dragged her out of the common room, she bit my hand. Out on the corridor I tugged open the first door I saw and retaliated by throwing her into the room ahead of me. I followed her in and slammed the door shut.
She reached for the door handle, I pushed her out of the way and delivered a heavy footed kick to the handle, it broke off quickly. The girl continued to fume, we were trapped until we scaled the side of the window or broke the door. Genius. She punched me in the head and the inside of my mouth began bleeding.
"I-i-ah-ah-ah," she tried. When her voice failed she kicked my shin. "I-i-i-. Mmmmhh. Ffffu-f-f-f."
I put my hands on her shoulders, I needed her calm. She looked at me, she took some slow breaths and her lips still shook. She gave up on talking and just turned away, refusing to look at me. I could tell the silencing charm she'd cast was getting weaker. I could hear my breath again.
"What happened to you?" I tried to ask, but there was no sound. Her breath was steadying. I bent a little and ran my hand over my bruised shin.
"S-s-sorry," she said, watching my hand. It was a relief that she had found her words, watching her struggle just made me feel worse. I shook my head, trying to make it clear that she didn't owe me an apology. She shrugged, and sat on the ground, her back to the door. After a few false starts she managed to form a sentence. "My mother wrote me a l-letter. She's p-pleased with all of this." She pointed at her face and tugged at her hair. "I have them all f-f-f... f-fooled, s-same as y-yi-you."
"I didn't lie," I tried to say, and this time there might've been enough sound for her to know I'd tried, but she didn't look at me.
I couldn't take it, I needed to kiss her, to convince her, to help her.
She placed her hand on a nearby desk to pull herself from the ground. Only then did I realise we were in a sort of small box room filled with old furniture and dust. She began to kick the door. I stood and she turned. I pushed her against the ancient wood and kissed her. She kissed back. For just a moment everything seemed like we might actually kiss and make up.
